Crab deaths

[Hara]

Ok, I bought some inverts, 3 types of crabs, scarlet reef hermits were among them. The other two varieties were dwarf zebra hermits and sally lightfoot. All the crabs were doing fine, except for the scarlet reef hermits.
I am finding them completely seperated from their shells, the body's and legs within an inch or so from the shell. Nothing has eaten them. It looks like they just vacated the premises. What could be the cause of this?

[stresco]

are you sure that they are dead. My hermits shed\molt all the time. It looks like they are dead, but its just their left over husks. they are actulally hiding in the LR till thier new skin hardens, then they climb into new shells. I dont think that mine are breading. I bought 10 orrigionally, scooped out at least 10 husks, and still have 10 hermits.

[Hara]

hmm, it looks really meaty...not husklike and it was en masse, would all decide to do a molting at once?

[d9hp]

My scarlet crab dropped his legs, now he is up and running again, I would give them some time.

[mojoreef]

Hara alot of time they do it when stressed out, possibly the new introduction caused it.


Mike

Did you have other crustations in the tank prior to this happening to your new arrivals? If so, I would use the existing animals as your guide to tank health rather than the newer arrivals.

As Mojoreef stated, it could just be stress from being added to a new environment as well as differing water chemistry.

If there where no existing crabs and such prior to these, then I would investigate the possibility of iodine poisoning and/or stray voltage. Do you use GFCI or grounding probe?

Cheers
Steve

[Hara]

The snails, nudi and sally lightfoot, micro hermits and zebras are all ok.
I am thinking that the copperband butterfly may be the culprit. Just sorta
have a feeling as I havent actually seen him do it. But it does "pick" at
everything

I have read that CBB's do have a reputation for liking small crustaceans such as shrimp and pods.. I am not saying it is doing this I guess anything is a possibility. Hmmm well, I wonder though.. if it is picking, it maybe snacking when not being watched.. ...It ends up being an expensive snack after a while..

[Mudshark]

Originally Posted by Hara

All the crabs were doing fine, except for the scarlet reef hermits.

Hmm, I got some from Saltwater Fish.com and pretty much the same thing
happened to mine. I went through the "acclamation" process and was
really careful, but most of them died.
I have 3 left out of 15... but these three seem to be doing really well.
As for the rest of the snails/crabs I got, they are all fine.

[Hara]

hmmm, verry interesting, mine came from saltwaterfish.com as well.

Sounds like I won't be ordering from saltwaterfish.com

[Mudshark]

Originally Posted by Hara

hmmm, verry interesting, mine came from saltwaterfish.com as well.

Sorry to hear that...
Well I have seen a few other folks on their bulletin boards complain
about the same thing. Saltwaterfish.com said that you should return
all the shells and "leftovers" and they will credit you for all the "dead"
ones... but it's a "store credit" so it will go towards your next purchase.

I never took them up on their offer.... I'll just go buy my stuff elsewhere
from now on. Not that I don't trust them any more, it's just that there are
a lot of better places to get live stock from on the web.
you should try GARF.com